1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to bicycles and more particularly to the mounting of front and rear wheel quick-release hubs.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Wheel, hub and axle assembly are customarily mounted in open-ended slots in the lower ends of the fork of a bicycle, with the axle being held in the slots by threadedly mounted retaining nuts on the outer ends of the axle and lock washers. Quick-release means have been incorporated therein providing adjustable retainer members movable relative to the axle longitudinally for retaining the axle in the fork slots by clamping means. Because accidents have occurred when quick-release hubs have been improperly fastened or tampered with or the cam lever has been moved from a closed to an open position by external forces causing such retaining nuts or members to loosen allowing the front wheel to separate from the fork, attempts have been made to provide additional retainer means for preventing such accidental separation. All known attempts have proven to be economically impractical to incorporate in the vast number quick-release hub and front fork assembly that exist. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,807,761 was described by the inventor in U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,922 as being too commercially impractical and expensive to incorporate in a quick-release hub. Further, all known attempts have lacked universal application because they require extensive coordination between or modification of the quick-release hub and axle relative to the front fork due to the fact that there are hundreds of different shapes and designs of bicycle front forks. Further, all known attempts have addressed the problem of separation of the hub from the fork or the accidental opening of the cam lever of the hub as independent problems, but have not addressed both problems in a single design. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,103,922 provides a method for preventing a quick-release hub from separating from a bicycle front fork, but does not appear to be applicable to rear quick-release hub separation and does not prevent the accidental opening of the cam lever.